Paving in the GSMNP Plan your travels in the Smokies!

The good folks at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park officials have announced that a paving project will begin the week of April 30 on Newfound Gap Road. Work will take place along the road between the Newfound Gap area south to the park boundary at Cherokee, North Carolina. The project should be completed by September 20, 2018, though work schedules are subject to revision as needed for inclement weather.  

Visitors traveling on Newfound Gap Road should expect weekday, single-lane closures and traffic delays April 30 through June 16 and again from August 16 through September 20.
Lane closures are permitted from 7:00 a.m. on Mondays through 12:00 p.m. on Fridays and will be allowed to hold traffic for up to 10 minutes at a time. The lane closures will be managed with flagging operations and a pilot car to lead traffic through work zones. In addition, some parking areas and pull-offs will be closed intermittently.
To better accommodate visitors during periods of high visitation, no daytime lane closures will be allowed on weekends, holidays, or from June 16 through August 15.

For more information about road conditions, please visit the park website at www.nps.gov/grsm or follow SmokiesRoadsNPS on Twitter.

Meteors and Crashed Space ships

Earth Day will bring one of the best meteor showers of the spring with as many as 20 meteors streaking across the sky every hour.

The best night to see the Lyrids will be the night of Saturday, April 21, into the early morning of Sunday, April 22, although some meteors will be able to be seen on the night before and the night after the shower’s peak.

Viewing this weekend's meteor shower will be easy for stargazers of all ages and will not require the use of binoculars or a telescope.

The shower will be best viewed after midnight when the radiant is highest in the sky. 

The radiant point is the area in the sky from which the meteors originate. This weekend’s shower will radiate from east-northeast near the Lyra constellation, which is how the shower earned its name.

However, meteors will be visible streaking across all areas of the sky, not just to the east-northeast.

Some people spending a night under the stars to view the meteors may even see a few fireballs, or extremely bright meteors that can light up the entire sky for a few seconds.

Rainbow Falls Trail Project Continues

Great Smoky Mountains National Park officials announced that the second phase of a 2-year trail rehabilitation project will begin Monday, April 16 on the popular Rainbow Falls Trail.

The trail will be closed April 16 through November 15 on Monday mornings at 7:00 a.m. through Thursday evenings at 5:30 p.m. weekly. Due to the construction process on the narrow trail, a full closure is necessary for the safety of both the crew and visitors. The trail will be fully open each week on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday and on federal holidays.

The Trails Forever crew will continue to focus rehabilitation efforts on several targeted locations along the 6-mile trail to improve visitor safety and stabilize eroding trail sections. Rainbow Falls Trail is one of the most popular trails in the park leading hikers to Rainbow Falls and Mt. Le Conte. The planned work will improve overall trail safety and protect natural resources by reducing trail braiding and improving drainage to prevent further erosion.

The Mt. Le Conte backcountry shelter will be closed to the public for eight, 7-night periods beginning July 18 through October 24 to accommodate members of the American Conservation Experience trail crew working on the rehabilitation project. For more information on the shelter closure, please contact the Backcountry Office at 865-436-1297.

Trails Forever is a partnership program between Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Friends of the Smokies.